Quanell X feels some innocent men have been accused in sex assault case

VANESA BRASHIER

Published
11:47 pm CST, Thursday, March 10, 2011

Photo: PATRIC SCHNEIDER

Photo: PATRIC SCHNEIDER

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Quanell X feels some innocent men have been accused in sex assault case

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Minister Quanell X from the New Black Panthers Party in Houston were in Cleveland on Thursday night, March 11. The Houston community activist is the latest out-of-town visitor to weigh in on who is to blame for the alleged Thanksgiving holiday sexual assault of an 11-year-old Cleveland girl at the hands of 18 young men and juveniles.

For Quanell X, there is plenty of blame to go around for both sides.

“I did not come here to jump on an 11-year-old child. I did come to raise some serious questions,” said Quanell X. “If this girl did not live in that neighborhood, at 11 years of age, how was that child in that community experiencing sex with so many African-American men? Where was her mother? Where was her father?”

With all of the accusations from the Hispanic girl, who has since turned 12, leveled only at black men and boys, Quanell X wonders how it is possible that there are no other races involved.

“You mean to tell me that the only men in Cleveland, Texas, that had sex with that girl are black men who are locked up in the jail? Do you mean to tell me that there is no other race of men in Cleveland that slept with that child, that the black men are so psychologically and morally depraved, with a loss of a moral sense of shame, that they are the only ones who touched her?” he asked the standing room-only audience that had packed into the log cabin at Stancil Park to hear him speak.

When the audience shouted back, “No!,” Quanell X suggested that there are problems with the police investigation.

“I want to know who are the lead investigators in this case. I want to know why nobody has asked, ‘Where is your mother and father?’ It looks like the KKK (Ku Klux Klan) is leading the investigation,” he said. “My God, did they have a Negro roundup? It looks to me like [the police] just gave her a book filled with black pictures.”

Quanell X shared a conversation he reportedly had with one of the accused who admitted he had sex with the girl. The young man complained that the girl looked much older than her true age.

“I said to him, ‘Brother, a child is still a child. You must pay for that.’ He said he didn’t have a problem with paying for his crime but that he felt that some of the men and juveniles with him in jail were innocent.

“He said he didn’t know who the dudes are that are locked up with him. He also said that he knows who was at the trailer [on Ross St. where some of the assaults are said to have taken place] and none of those boys who have been arrested were at the trailer,” he said.

He was critical of the lack of role models for the community’s youth.

“How can you not know there is a video [of some of the boys engaging in sex with the minor]? It’s because the elders have fallen asleep on your post. The elders are not as involved with our young people’s lives as they should be,” said Quanell X.

He had harsh words for the elected officials in Cleveland, who have been noticeably silent throughout this investigation. His harshest comments were directed specifically at the three black members of council who are facing a recall election, Barbara McIntyre, Durlene Davis and Cedric McDuffie.

“Oh brothers and sisters, what are you afraid of? You mean to tell me that something like this can go down in your community, and you are so concerned about what the enemies of the black community think that you won’t even stand with your own brothers and sisters to get down to the truth,” said Quanell X. “And now I understand they got a recall. I can see why they got a recall. Maybe you all should have had the recall yourselves. Because if you are that afraid to stand up at a time when the time demands you stand up, then you don’t deserve to call yourself a politician.”

After the event, a young woman claiming to be McIntyre’s press agent handed out prepared statements from McIntyre and Davis.

The letter from Davis closed with: “We cannot go forth with necessary changes for our city with the negative distractions still dictating how our city should be managed.”